Allegiances
by JanessaBess
Summary: After Desna becomes injured trying to help Unalaq open the Northern Portal Eska attempts to get him to Northern Healers but knows they won't make it in time. Instead they stumble upon Kiiata, a gifted apprentice of Katara's.
1. Chapter 1

Eska was supporting the weight of her half-conscious twin brother, moving as quickly as she could back towards town. She knew he needed a healer immediately and was attempting to focus all of her energy on locating a Northern Healer as quickly as possible. But in the back of her mind their Father's lack of distress for Desna was bothering her more than she would ever admit. Of course he must be worried about him, she reasoned, he was just caught up in the moment, fearful that if he didn't progress with his plan he would fail. She banished all thought of their Father from her mind and continued on through the night, moving quickly under the Spirit Lights into town.

She glanced down at her twin. Desna's skin was turning pale, his eyes closed now and she realized she was dragging him completely; he was no longer helping her by supporting some of his own weight. She lowered him to the snow covered ground, her face almost betraying the panic that was welling up inside.

"Desna," she whispered, gently smacking his cheek with the sleeve of her robe. He made no movement, but his breath was ragged and she could tell he was in pain. The panic began slipping through her carefully crafted façade and her brows knit together as she tried to come up with a solution; she knew they wouldn't make it to the Northern Healing Centre in time. Dragging him would only intensify his pain and carrying him wasn't an option. Just then she caught sight of a young woman running towards them; a southern water tribe girl.

* * *

She had caught sight of them, Unalaq's children, as she was walking home from Katara's healing hut. It had been a long night, many Southern men were injured and no matter how much Katara praised her for being advanced in her healing skills she felt it was never enough. Each man she was able to heal was replaced with another and she was working endlessly, trying to lift the burden from Katara whose age was beginning to set in physically. Her healing powers were still great but she grew tired quickly and Kiiata would send the elderly woman to rest, replacing her and working double time. She had put in fifteen hours today, and a great deal of it was spent tending to a Southern Tribe woman who was in labor; Katara agreed that this was Kiiata's specialty. She could more easily sooth a mother's labor pains and bring a new Tribe member into the world than any Healer triple her age and experience. Katara called it her gift and no matter how exhausted Kiiata was at the end of the day it always seemed like a blessing to know the most powerful waterbender in the whole Tribe considered her skilled.

When she saw Eska falter to the ground with her brother she knew she couldn't ignore them; a trait she had probably learned from Katara. They were just on the edge of town and Kiiata knew if she didn't get to them before they were spotted they would likely be taken as prisoners and held against Unalaq, which probably wouldn't have been an awful thing in hindsight, but she began to run towards them anyway. Unfortunately she failed to realize that Eska would likely perceive her as a threat; her light brown hair and Southern Tribe clothing made her appear very obviously as the enemy. The first few ice daggers Eska bent missed her by inches but one cut her sharply across the face as she met with its force. Kiiata brought her hand to her cheek as she slowed and felt the warm trickle of blood escaping from the sliced skin.

"Remain where you are," Eska spoke solemnly as always. But there was something else Kiiata was detecting in her tone. Panic? Fear maybe?

"You're Eska, right? I'm Kiiata, I'm a Healer. I can help your brother," she spoke slowly, moving her hand from her cheek and preparing to bend a defense should Eska attack again. Sure enough she did; holding her brother with one arm she raised her other and bent a handful of ice daggers half-heartedly in Kiiata's direction. She reacted quickly, pulling ice from the ground to defend herself, blocking Eska's daggers.

"Eska, please, I want to help your brother but if keep drawing attention to yourself you're going to get captured by our Warriors," Kiiata explained, peeking out from behind her shield of ice. This made Eska pause and within moments she dropped her chin, defeated.

Kiiata moved quickly towards the pair. Desna was unconscious, but after curving her head towards his chest she could hear and see his ragged breathing; he was in pain. She began to panic. She really hadn't thought this through; if she took him back to the Healing Hut she risked being caught by Warriors for helping their enemies but if they remained out in the open she risked her healing being less effective as the cold was surely setting into his body.

"Eska," she asked suddenly. "Do you know how to build a fire?"

She appeared to be taken aback, but she shook her head and Kiiata knew what to do immediately. "We're on the edge of town, any one of the huts here will have a barrel filled with Tiger Seal fat for small fires. Get some, put it in here," she said offering her a small purse like bag, "and bring it back to me. There is a cave nearby where I'm going to move your brother, follow me there."

Eska's face remained expressionless as she nodded. Taking the bag from Kiiata's hand she moved towards the town, but Kiiata stopped her.

"Wait, trade me your robes for my parka."

* * *

Eska assumed that Kiiata's plan was to help her blend in. Her Northern Tribe robes would make her identity obvious to anyone who saw her moving along the edge of town, even at this time of night. She removed her robes and shivered against the cold Southern wind in just her long dress. She wondered fleetingly if the Southern Tribe clothing was more comfortable than the shapeless, floor-length tunics and robes she and Desna wore, but soon enough Kiiata was handing her a hooded parka with very plain stitching and no fur trim at all. She realized as she pulled it over her dress that, in fact, the entire garment was made from Tiger Seal fur, dyed blue, and reaching mid-thigh. It was comfortable and much warmer than the robes she wore normally, though she would refuse to admit it. She turned towards the Southern Tribe girl, about to remark on the ridiculousness of such attire only to have a pair of gloves shoved into her outstretched hands.

"Put these on," the girl said. "I imagine you won't enjoy touching the fat with your bare hands."

Eska slipped the gloves on, trying to figure out which fingers went in which compartment. No matter how she fiddled with them they felt uncomfortable. The thumb was obvious, but what were the other two spaces for?

"Your index and middle fingers go in the first spot, the other two in the second. Now go, we need to hurry."

She pulled on the mittens and set off, running awkwardly in the direction of town. The first hut she encountered seemed to be abandoned, and there seemed to be nothing around it that held any sort of materials with which to create a fire. She moved stealthily to the next hut. After searching around it, she finally found a small barrel containing a thick, white substance that she assumed was the fat. She could sense a family inside, likely sleeping, and wondered if they would notice any missing fat from the barrel; would the need it? Would they suffer without it? She shook her head to free herself of the worry. It didn't matter if the family needed it, Desna needed it more.

She almost gagged as she shoveled her hand into the barrel, grabbing a large handful of the fat and plopping it into the bag Kiiata had given her. She took two more scoops before attempting to wipe the gloves in the snow; an attempt to rid herself of the foul, textured feeling of the lard. It was no use though. Oh well, at least they weren't her gloves. She moved back out into the night with the bag of Tiger Seal fat, scanning along the horizon looking for the Southern Tribe girl. She found her quickly and was surprised by what she saw; the girl had used Eska's robe as a sling stretcher. She was facing the cold bare armed pulling Desna behind her.

* * *

Kiiata had no time to waste. She steeled herself against the cold and laid Eska's robe down on the ground. She knew that attempting to carry Desna would be too difficult; she was strong enough, but it would jostle him too much. He was already unconscious and it was likely due to the pain. She did her best to move him onto the robe she meant to use as a crude stretcher; first his head and shoulders, then his torso and hips, finally his feet. She used the unusually long sleeves to tie him into place, placing each sleeve under his arms so that there was no chance he would slip out while she moved.

Gripping the fur trimmed hood she started moving, pulling Desna behind her, toward the cave she knew wasn't far away. She had discovered it as a child, after running away when her older sisters had been teasing her. She had stayed there until she got so hungry and went fishing. But when she brought the fish back to her hideaway she realized that she had no fire to cook it with and so she had reluctantly taken herself, and her fish, back home.

It wasn't long before she heard the awkward snow steps of Eska; her movements were rough but formal and not easily mistaken for a Warrior.

"You got the fat?"

"Yes"

The two moved in silence, Eska didn't ask their destination and Kiiata didn't offer the information to her. Kiiata wanted to shiver in the cold but a part of her didn't want to seem weak in front of Eska who could easily turn around and report her to the Northern Navy for kidnapping. The proof would be in the seaweed pudding right in her hands.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of silence, they came upon what appeared to be a small cave. The opening was just big enough for them to squeeze into but within seconds they found themselves inside a large cavernous space where Kiiata quickly went to work. It was dark, but making a fire was second nature to her. When you live in the coldest climate in the world you learn skills, like fire-making, fast. She felt around in the dark for a rock that would be long and flat, finding one in seconds. She poked around, feeling for the bag Eska had around her shoulders. A squeal told her she had poked Eska by accident.

"Sorry Eska. But the bag?"

Eska handed it over and Kiiata scooped a handful of the fat and patted it out into the rock in front of her. With her other hand she felt around for dried moss on the wall of the cave. She rolled the moss in the fat before lighting it and suddenly the entire cave was lit up, almost as if she had used wood. She watched with smug satisfaction as Eska's constant blasé expression turned wide-eyed in amazement. She quickly reined in the emotion though and returned to looking bored as ever when she caught Kiiata glancing her way. Now it was time to get to work.

"Eska, move closer to the entrance and bend some of the snow into water for me. I need to remove his robes so I can see exactly what his wounds are like."

Eska flushed, "You shall not remove his robes. I refuse to permit such action."

Kiiata rolled her eyes. "Eska, I can't help him if I don't know how he got hurt, or where his injuries are. I know you aren't going to tell me what caused them so the least you can do is allow me to see them."

She knew she was right. The siblings had likely been off with their father in the Spirit Forest working on some dastardly plan or else the pair wouldn't have been outside town at all. Kiiata sighed, she could have just left Desna alone, continued on her way home and Unalaq's plan would have failed when he realized his son was injured. Stupid conscience.

She noticed Eska had turned away then, moving nearer to the mouth of the cave. Kiiata took this for consent and removed Desna's fur lined robes. Somehow it seemed more awkward removing his tunic though. She was used to tending to Warriors, grown men who had daughters her own age. Desna was just a boy like any of the others in her village. He was probably her age even. And she was undressing him. Her brown skin heated as she removed the sash that held his tunic. Was it hot in here or was it just her, she thought as she opened the front of his tunic and pulled his arms out of the sleeves. He wasn't nearly as well-muscled as some of the Warriors she'd seen in the past few weeks, but she had to admit, he was toned and his arms and chest looked strong. The thought made her blush deepen, clearly noticeable now through her brown skin. Spirits, she hoped Eska wasn't looking.

She examined his wounds now, "Eska bend me some water over here." Eska complied but as Kiiata took a closer look she realized the wounds were strange; not cuts from ice like she would have expected, though she should have known since his tunic and robes were not torn up. His wounds covered the expanse of his entire torso, the largest was in the very middle of his chest; and she had only ever seen one like it before, when she was very young and the elderly Fire Lord Zuko had come to visit Katara.

"Lightning," she whispered as her hands went to work. Taking the water from Eska, she

moved it back and forth over Desna's chest. She could feel the energy left behind from

whatever had caused the injuries and it gave her a strange feeling. She couldn't shake it off but she continued, feeling Desna's breathing even out slowly as she moved the water across his body.

She wanted to try something but she felt nervous with Eska there, now watching her every move. She noticed the bored expression that the girls face usually held was gone. Instead she looked anxious, like she was on the verge of breaking into a panic but trying to rein it in for as long as possible. She decided that it didn't matter what Eska thought of her, she was clearly worried for her brother and anything Kiiata could do to speed up the healing process would likely make her feel better. And perhaps a small part of her wanted to know the gratitude of Desna himself when he woke up; knowing she had healed him quickly and more efficiently than any of the Northern Healers probably could.

She placed her left hand over the large wound on Desna's chest. She could feel most of the energy had built itself up in that particular spot. She used her right hand to ground herself to the floor of the cave and then she shut her eyes. She began to move the hand on his chest in figure eight motions, as if she was using the water to massage him. She concentrated on emptying her mind. Sometimes the energy left in battle wounds had a story to tell and if the Healer grounded herself and opened her mind, the energy could flow through her, telling her the story of the injury and thus allowing her a better insight on how to heal it.

Kiiata was concentrating hard now, her eyes steeled shut and her brows coming together above them, when suddenly the images hit her like the lightening had hit Desna. They knocked the breath out of her and as each image disappeared she was slammed with another. It took a lot of her strength to keep her hand on the boy's chest but she knew she needed to continue. Suddenly she felt it; this energy wasn't just your average energy, it came from the Spirit World. She was out of breath as she motioned the water with her hands again, this time lifting it from his chest, drawing as much of the energy out of him as she could. His breathing hitched and for a moment she panicked. She was hurting him worse, she knew it. The pain of removing the energy was likely the same pain as when the lightning struck him; like removing an arrow. His back was arching and so she scooted forward on her knees, placing her thigh under his neck to support him. Suddenly his eyes opened.


	2. Chapter 2

It felt as if he had been floating in an ocean for thousands of years; each wave washing over his body, ebbing away any pain, easing every inch of his mind. It felt neither good nor bad, it just felt natural. The waters weren't warm or cool, but they were ever present, flowing around his body. Suddenly a jolt slammed through his body, bringing him into a state of awareness. How long had he been in this ocean? Another jolt hit him, electrifying every inch of his being. He began to panic as the waves in his ocean began to beat down on him, each one crashing against his body with another shock of pain. The gentle sea he had been floating in was turning into a typhoon, the waters threating to consume him in pain. It was dark, he couldn't tell, maybe this wasn't an ocean after all.

Another jolt hit him, harder this time, causing him to cry out, and suddenly he opened his eyes. He knew right away that he wasn't in an ocean; he could feel the supple roundness of something supporting his head. A hand gently rested on his chest, right above the source of his pain. Even with eyes open, his vision didn't come into focus at first; a figure above him blurred in and out of his vision before finally, after blinking a few times, the girl came into full focus.

The first thing he noticed about her was the gash on her cheek. It looked fresh, the blood still fairly bright on her brown skin even though it had clotted and was beginning to dry. Then he noticed her eyes; bright turquoise, alarmingly beautiful too. He reached up to touch her, wondering if this was real or if, like his ocean, it was a creation of his mind to deal with the pain. He watched her flinch back slightly, moving her hand from his chest down to the ground beside her, and so he lowered his as well.

Suddenly from a short distance away he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"Desna, my brother, it appears as though this Southern peasant has mended your wounds."

"Eska?" he mumbled, trying to sit up but feeling another shooting pain pierce through his chest.

"M-maybe you should wait…" the Southern girl mumbled. "I don't think I've done enough."

She was looking down at her lap, and had taken Desna's movement as a prompt and moved her thigh back under the rest of her body. The girl looked uncomfortable, like there was more she wanted to say but was holding back, not sure if she should speak or not.

Eska spoke instead. "You said that you could heal my brother, so why have you not done all that you could do? Perhaps you are not as skilled as you believe yourself to be." Her words were meant harshly, a slap in the face for any bender confident in their abilities. He expected the girl to shrink back, to apologize to Eska for being incompetent. Instead he saw her neck snap up, her face shifting from uncomfortable to impassioned.

"Republic City wasn't built in a day! Quit being so pampered, not everyone is going to hand you every single thing you want, when you want. These things take time!"

Desna's face openly portrayed his shock; he had never heard anyone talk to his sister that way. Not even their father, who at times could be downright condescending. His sister however, kept her face expressionless as usual, facing the girl's intense glower with disinterest.

"Besides," the girl added, shuffling towards the small fire on the other side of the room, "his body is wounded severely. The energy comes from the Spirit World, the only way I could heal him in one shot would be if I had Spirit Water, which I do not. So don't complain."

"It is impossible that my brother's injuries were sustained in the Spirit World. I am unsure of what you are speaking of."

Desna watched as the Southern Tribe girl used her bare hands to place fat around the edge of a flame and then wiped her hands on moss on the wall, all the while ignoring his sister. Finally she spoke, turning her head toward Eska, her clean hand swiping strands of brown hair from her face.

"I didn't ask you to tell me what happened, all I'm saying is I can sense where the energy came from. I basically saw how it happened."

Eska made a sound like she was about to interject but the girl continued, "Like I said, you don't have to fess up to what happened or why you were in the Spirit World with your dad, I'm sure the Avatar and everyone else is going to figure it out soon enough, all I'm saying is that your brother is going to need more healing than the average Warrior. So why don't you lie yourself down by the fire and rest or something while I work? I'm sure you'll need your strength for whatever nasty plot your dad is cooking up."

Her tone near the end was venomous, as if she wished her words could cut through both he and Eska. He watched her stand suddenly and move to the mouth of the cave where she bent water from the snow to rinse the fat off her hands. She stood there for a moment, crossing her arms across her chest and he noticed she was only wearing a shirt; blue, and completely strapless, covering only her wrappings and down to where her pants hugged her hips. He realized the strange parka Eska was wearing on the other side of the cave must be hers. But why had she given it up? It was impossible that Eska would have gotten cold. After a moment he realized he was laying on both his robe and Eska's beneath it. The girl had given Eska her parka so that she could use hers as a make-shift stretcher.

He continued to keep silent, his eyes flashing from the Southern Tribe girl near the mouth of the cave to his twin, who was settling down to sleep by the fire, as the girl had suggested. Perhaps he too should lay back and rest.

* * *

He hadn't said a word the whole time. And his rude sister, questioning her abilities? Ha! Maybe if the two of them hadn't been sneaking around in the Spirit World with their daddy, Desna would be fine and her 'inadequate' healing abilities wouldn't be needed. She was brooding by the mouth of the cave but she could feel eyes fixed on her back. Assuming it was Eska she turned her head over her shoulder only to see Eska's eyes closed, settled down by the fire. It must be Desna then, she thought. She was surprised, but she didn't look at him. He hadn't even thanked her, or stood up for her; without her he wouldn't even be conscious!

Minutes passed. She listened to the fire snap as it consumed the tiger seal fat. It was warm in the cave but Kiiata was standing at the mouth of it and the wind was raising goose bumps on her flesh. She was beginning to regret trading parkas with Eska but moving to the fire would mean being near the girl who had spent the first moments of her brother's consciousness complaining that she was incompetent. Just then, she thought she heard a voice. The wind was loud in her ears but she was could have sworn… She strained, but only heard Eska's breathing falling evenly; she was asleep. Slowly Kiiata turned, her eyes focusing on the boy she had just healed.

Desna was watching her, his face showed no emotion, like his sister's. She knew it was him that spoke, so she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to repeat what he had said. They stared at each other for a few moments, neither one of them willing to break the gaze; someone had to give in and speak first but Kiiata wasn't about to let it be her. Finally Desna sighed.

"It appears that you are cold," he pointed out.

"I'm fine," she said despite the feeling of the wind biting at the exposed skin of her back. She pulled her shoulders up higher, trying to will her body into warming itself somehow. She heard Desna sigh again.

* * *

The girl was ridiculous! He could see the goose bumps covering every inch of exposed skin. But for some reason she stood as far away from the fire as possible and refused to come an inch closer. As he watched her he noticed her fighting off shiver after shiver; her dark skin jittering almost imperceptibly. Foolish and stubborn, this girl! What was it with Southern Tribe women? His cousin Korra was the same. Always needing to prove something. He wondered what it would take to get the foolish girl in here.

He started raising himself up using his elbows. It seemed easy enough until he was about half-way into a sitting position and then the pain rippled through his body causing him to grunt. Finally the girl moved back into the cave.

"You're going to hurt yourself! Are you dumb?" she asked, clearly annoyed. She tensed her hands into fists, squeezing them for moment, before letting go with a sigh. She knew what he was up to.

"Lay back again," she said kneeling beside him and placing her knee back beneath his head for support.

He watched her bend water from the entrance of the cave. As she pressed her hands to the wound on his chest he saw her brown skin of her cheeks deepen in color. He didn't have long to contemplate it's meaning before a sharp pain knocked the breath from him. It wasn't as strong as before and as the moments dragged on and her hands continued to move around his chest the pain eased into a dull ache.

"It will scar," she told him.

"So will that," he responded pointing to the gash on her face.

She paused for a moment then, raising one hand to her cheek as if she had almost forgotten about the mark that Eska had put there, no doubt.

"It's fine," she said, going back to moving her hands and bending the water on his chest.

Desna watched her, trying to get her to meet his eyes, but she was clearly avoiding them. He wondered if it upset her that she was going to have a scar on her face. Or, perhaps she was regretting having helped him. Or both, since one had likely led to the other.

"I'm not aware of your title," he said suddenly, awkwardly failing to ease her train of though.

"My…my title?" she replied, blinking in confusion.

"Your name," Desna clarified.

"Oh, my name is Kiiata," she answered, suddenly shy, her turquoise eyes watching her hands on his chest.

* * *

She couldn't look at him. At his stupid eyes or his stupid face. Even looking at the muscles of his stupid chest was making her blush. And he wanted to know her name? She was screaming internally; she wanted to drag him right out into the storm and throw ice darts at him. See how he likes scars on his pretty face. His stupid pretty face. Why was she even being like this? His father started a civil war with her Tribe, and now he was cooking up some dastardly plot in the Spirit World. And she is sitting here in a cave blushing when she touched Desna's chest. Desna! The heir to the chieftain who will likely continue this civil war should anything happen to Unalaq!

She could feel him watching her still and her brows knit tightly together while she tried to avoid looking back at him. Finally she gave up and broke the awkward silence; bringing up a topic she shouldn't even be curious about.

"So… I bet this scar will drive the Northern Tribe girls wild," she said delicately.

"I am not sure why I would want to drive a girl feral," he responded, and she thought she almost saw a hint of a smile on his lips. Was he being sarcastic with her?

"Oh?" she said playing along. "Are you already betrothed?

"No. My sister was, though I believe that the Avatar has stolen the boy from her."

"I would too," she mumbled with a laugh. Desna stared at her.

"I mean, I've seen that Earthbender guy that your sister would traipse around with. He's pretty handsome. Muscular and all that."

"And is that the type of..." he paused as if searching for the right words, "man that you would…involve yourself with?"

She laughed shaking her head and raising a finger to point at the gash on her cheek. "I don't think your sister would appreciate that."

Suddenly and unexpectedly Desna laughed. It was a strange sound, not a laugh she expected; it was higher pitched and much more awkward sounding but somehow that made sense. The shock of the sound and the smile on Desna's face was enough to cause Kiiata's eyes to grow wide, her hands stopped moving the water across his chest, instead coming to rest right above the wound where she could feel the strange laughter emanating from.

Then, as suddenly as his strange laughter had started, it stopped. It was as if he had realized that he had betrayed his emotions. She was still looking at him wide eyed though, and then she threw her head back and laughed a full, true laugh. She wasn't sure if it was the shock of hearing his strange laugh or the shock of his laughter and smile in general, and then suddenly he was laughing with her. It was awkward, which made it seem even funnier, and the sound of his laugh was oddly contagious. Finally when they had both settled down to a giggle Kiiata looked down at Desna only to realize her hands were still gently resting on his chest. Blushing and looking away she folded them and placed them in her lap. She looked back up, meeting his eyes, when she felt Desna's hand touching her cheek where the gash was.


End file.
